Book Review: The Universe Has Your Back

Book Review: The Universe Has Your Back – by Gabrielle Bernstein

Synopsis:

In her latest book, The Universe Has Your Back, New York Times best-selling author Gabrielle Bernstein teaches readers how to transform their fear into faith in order to live a divinely guided life. Each story and lesson in the book guides readers to release the blocks to what they most long for: happiness, security and clear direction. The lessons help readers relinquish the need to control so they can relax into a sense of certainty and freedom. Readers will learn to stop chasing life and truly live.

Making the shift from fear to faith will give readers a sense of power in a world that all too often makes them feel utterly powerless. When the tragedies of the world seem overwhelming, this book will help guide them back to their true power.

Gabrielle says, “My commitment with this book is to wake up as many people as possible to their connection to faith and joy. In that connection, we can be guided to our true purpose: to be love and spread love. These words can no longer be cute buzz phrases that we merely post on social media. Rather, these words must be our mission. The happiness, safety, and security we long for lies in our commitment to love. ”

When readers follow this path, they’ll begin to feel a swell of energy move through them. They will find strength when they are down, synchronicity and support when they ’re lost, safety in the face of uncertainty, and joy when they are otherwise in pain. Follow the secrets revealed in this book to unleash the presence of your power and know always that The Universe Has Your Back.

My Thoughts: This book was a joy to read. It was easy to digest and captivating. I liked reading one chapter a night, I’d sit with the book and my journal and copy down quotable sayings I wanted to sink in while working through the exercises. I’m definitely going to re-read this book with a highlighter. This is a great book to dive into Gabby or for her long time fans who have read a few!

I really liked Chapter 4 – Your Vibes Speak Louder Than Your Words. She covers in the first few chapters how we create inner stories that then create our reality. In this chapter she dives into explaining that our projected thoughts and words really affect the energy that surrounds us. I love that their are meditations throughout the book. I wrote down this as a quotable in my journal ” The Universe Picks Up What You Put Out”. Here’s to make a conscious effort to put out only the positives. It’s a constant practice but one I’m committed to.

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Book Review: Fire Starter Sessions

8 / 27 / 1411 / 20 / 22

What kobo.com says:

The Fire Starter Sessions is an apathy-kicking, integrity-infusing guide to defining success on your own terms.

As the creator of DanielleLaPorte.com–deemed “the best place online for kick-ass spirituality,” Danielle LaPorte’s straight-talk life-and-livelihood sermons have been read by over one million people. Bold but empathetic, she reframes popular self-help and success concepts:

: Life balance is a myth, and the pursuit of it is causing us more stress than the craving for balance itself.
: Being well-rounded is overrated. When you focus on developing your true strengths, you enter your mastery zone.
: Screw your principles (they might be holding you back).
: We have ambition backward. Getting clear on how you want to feel in your life + work is more important than setting goals. It’s the most potent form of clarity that you can have, and it’s what leads to true fulfillment.

What I say: This is a lovely soul-fire-up book. Danielle LaPorte is a fierce Canadian author and definitely puts her soul into success searching. Her book is broken down into 3 Parts (Mojo, Moxie & Results) and 16 Sessions (or chapters). Sessions that really spoke to me at this moment were the No, Thank You. Yes, Please chapter whose worksheet you work through The Stop-Doing List. I’m definitely guilty of trying to take on too many projects at once so I need to focus on how to say no so I can make room for more YES! I also loved Session 15 of Be The Giver. I seek and reach out to mentors as I move through my career & personal aspirations so as I gain knowledge and ideas I’m always willing to share. I Skyped for an hour with a new fitness entrepreneur on Monday to share branding knowledge because he gave me the fire to start a new Yes project that will allow me to properly say no to all the tiny things I do. Pick this book up if you need inspiration or to re-focus on defining your success goal getting.

Book Review: Conquering Shame and Codependency

7 / 25 / 1411 / 20 / 22

What kobo.com says:

A nationally recognized author and codependency expert examines the roots of shame and its connection with codependent relationships. Learn how to heal from their destructive hold by implementing eight steps that will empower the real you, and lead to healthier relationships.

Shame: the torment you feel when you’re exposed, humiliated, or rejected; the feeling of not being good enough. It’s a deeply painful and universal emotion, yet is not frequently discussed. For some, shame lurks in the unconscious, undermining self-esteem, destroying confidence, and leading to codependency. These codependent relationships are where we overlook our own needs and desires as we try to care for, protect, or please another-often cover up abuse, addiction, or other harmful behaviors. Shame and codependency feed off one another, making us feel stuck, never able to let go, move on, and become the true self we were meant to be.

In Conquering Shame and Codependency, Darlene Lancer sheds new light on shame: how codependents’ feelings and beliefs about shame affect their identity, their behavior and how shame can corrode relationships, destroying trust and love. She then provides eight steps to heal from shame, learn to love yourself, and develop healthy relationships.

What I say: This book made me a bit sad but helped me embrace the reality of our world. No matter what happens in life, how we are brought up, and who we associate with, we are all dealing with shame in some form or another and will over the course of our lifetime. It got me a little depressed at the beginning but pulled me out with the 8 steps to overcome shame and deal with ways we become co-dependent on others.

I am a huge fan of self-development books and so when I was asked to review this book I jumped at the chance. The topics & material found within the pages are quite heavy and I’m actually re-working my way through some chapters. I want to take the time to let the information sink in and do the writing exercises found within the pages. I’ve been doing work on myself to discover what I find shameful and to reframe it in a positive way. What I like about the 8 steps which I’ll share below:

1. Find Your True Self

2. Uncover Your Shame

3. Find Your Shame’s Roots

4. Disarm Your Shame

5. Confront Your Shame

6. Share Your Shame

7. Build Your Self-Esteem

8. Love Yourself

Is that I’ve been doing these unconsciously over the course of the last few years. I was of the mindset that if I announced I’m done healing then I am but moments, hurt trigger points, songs, words, and memories will probably always surface and it’s great to be able to remind myself of how I can reframe hurt to love and learning.

I recommend this book if you are going through a trying time and are looking for answers.

Book Review: You Are A Badass

5 / 2 / 145 / 9 / 14

What kobo.com says:

Bestselling author, speaker and world-traveling success coach, Jen Sincero, cuts through the din of the self-help genre with her own verbal meat cleaver in You Are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life. In this refreshingly blunt how-to guide, Sincero, serves up 27 bite-sized chapters full of hilariously inspiring stories, life-changing insights, easy exercises and the occasional swear word.

Via chapters such as “Your Brain is Your Bitch,” “Fear is for Suckers” and “My Subconscious Made Me Do It,” Sincero takes you on a wild joy ride to your own transformation, helping you create the money, relationships, career and general all around awesomeness you so desire. And should you be one of those people who dreads getting busted with a self-help book in your hands, fear not. Sincero, a former skeptic herself, delivers the goods minus the New-Age cheese, giving even the snarkiest of poo-pooers exactly what they need to get out of their ruts and start kicking some ass.

By the end of You Are a Badass, you will understand why you are how you are, how to love what you can’t change, how to change what you don’t love, and how to start living the kind of life you used to be jealous of.

What I say: The creative director at Kobo lent me a copy of this book after hearing me describe the structure of my first non-fiction book that I’m writing in 2014. The funniest part is he had a paper copy of the book from before he started at Kobo and I felt really guilty reading a paper book after only reading on my Kobo for the past year.

I absolutely loved reading Jen’s writing. Her style of narrative is how I talk and I like how she distilled the self-help world into no non-sense bite size sections and chapters. The book is organized into 5 sections: How You Got This Way, How To Embrace Your Inner Badass, How To Tap Into The Motherlode, How To Get Over Your B.S. Already and How To Kick Some Ass. I really loved the chapter on the subconscious as that is something I’m just starting to explore. I definitely recommend this book if you’ve yet to discover the self help genre but are looking for inspiration. The author draws from a lot of other books so she definitely has done the searching for you and explains complex at times concepts into easy to understand and apply ways.